Korea Midland Power, or KOMIPO, said it signed a civil work contact for its underground power plant project in Seoul with a local construction consortium. With the contact worth 226 billion won ($208 million), the state-run power generation company will be able to push for the world’s first underground power plant project, to be completed in September 2016. The project will build two units for the 400-megawatt, LNG-fueled power plant and the two units will be responsible of the stable electricit

South Korean stocks closed 0.47 percent lower on Tuesday due to rising uncertainties over the eurozone following Italy’s election, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index moved down 9.51 points to 2,000.01. Trading volume was moderate at 422.2 million shares worth 3.5 trillion won ($3.22 billion) with losers outpacing gainers 479 to 336.“Investor sentiment was dented by the outcome of Italy’s elections,” said Bae Sung-young,

Foreign-invested firms in Korea saw a rise both in exports and employment in 2011, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy on Tuesday.The ministry report showed that the total outbound sales of the 14,809 foreign-invested firms reached $100.7 billion in that year, accounting for 18.1 percent of the nation’s exports and marking an $8.4 billion rise from the previous year.Their combined sales soared by 20 percent or by 482 trillion won ($4.4 billion) during the same period. Their research a

South Korean stocks closed 0.47 percent lower on Tuesday due to rising uncertainties over the eurozone following Italy's election, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) moved down 9.51 points to 2,000.01. Trading volume was moderate at 422.2 million shares worth 3.5 trillion won (US$3.22 billion) with losers outpacing gainers 479 to 336."Investor sentiment was dented by the outcome of Italy's elections," said Bae Su

South Korean stocks traded 0.31 percent lower late Tuesday morning, dented by losses in techs and logistics, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) edged down 6.15 points to 2,003.37 as of 11:20 a.m.Big-cap tech names led the decline, with top chipmaker SK hynix falling 0.38 percent and leading flat panel manufacturer LG Display losing 0.81 percent. No. 1 steelmaker POSCO shed 0.56 percent.Logistics shares also traded lower, with Hyundai Glovis decreasing 1.76 perc

Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co., a South Korean builder, filed for a debt workout program on Tuesday as part of its efforts to get back on its feet again amid a cash crunch, a company official said.The move came days after the builder said its capital had been wiped out due to massive losses for the second consecutive year in 2012 amid the country's protracted housing market slump."We sent an official document to Woori Bank, the main creditor bank," a Ssangyong E&C official said, as he

South Korean stocks got off to a weak start on Tuesday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 11.02 points, or 0.55 percent, to 1998.50 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Shares lost ground across the board, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics falling 0.72 percent and No. 1 carmaker Hyundai Motor moving down 0.47 percent. Top steelmaker POSCO decreased 0.7 percent.U.S. stocks ended lower Monday on rising concerns

The proportion of spending on food items by low-income earners in South Korea rose to the highest level in eight years in 2012, data showed Tuesday, suggesting that price hikes toughened the livelihoods of the economically weak people.According to the data by Statistics Korea, the so-called Engel's coefficient for households in the lowest 20 percent income bracket rose to 20.79 percent last year from 20.7 percent tallied a year earlier, marking the highest figure since 2004 when it was 20.8.The